We returned from our cruise to Bermuda, had a lazy day at home, and went to The Vessel for sunset. The architecture is very MC Escher. After a time, the people were at least as interesting as the design.

I flew out to New Mexico in January. It had been waaay too long since I’d seen my pal, Kath, and been in the high desert. I totally love it out there. This is the landscape that I have returned to most often in my life.

Actually, I’ve been thinking of this show all summer as Georgia O’Keefe in the Bronx. I tried to go see it in the early spring with my dear friend Bette, but we couldn’t find a date that worked, so we agreed to wait until the fall and some cooler weather to go visit the Botanical Gardens.

This was an amazing trip! The event was blessed with perfect weather. Mark it in your calendar ladies--so the next time we're camping and it's raining, too windy, cold, or too hot, we can say, "Yes. But ahh, remember Sandy Pines?"

Perhaps the title should be, "Half of a Sister Trip is Better Than None?" This is the first time I became ill while on a Sisters On The Fly trip, so that was a new experience. I developed a chest cold/cough that knocked the stuffings out of me in a hurry. So, though it broke my heart, on Saturday morning I packed up and came home early. But, I was there for the beginning of the trip, I met and spoke to some very interesting Sisters, and Wednesday through Friday, I very much enjoyed.

It took a lot of planning, but the little cousins from New Paltz were finally able to meet up at the Bronx Zoo with their big cousins from Long Beach. We had a great day together, walking nearly six miles--and we still didn't see the entire zoo! Need to go back again in the fall when it's a little cooler.

On the 5th of July I went with friend Diana up to the PepsiCo Corporate park, and we walked and talked our way through a few miles of gardens looking at trees and plants, and sculptures large and larger.

West Virginia is so beautiful in the springtime! Our host, V Lynn Moore, took us on hikes down to see falls, and up to see the views each day of this trip. The rhododendrons were just past, but the Mountain Laurel and lots of other things were blooming like crazy.

Donna, our Queen Bee hostess with the mostest, made this sweet map of the USA with Bee pushpins for us to each place on our hometowns.

From May 31st through June 3rd, here in The New England Region, thirty -eight of us swarmed into Interlake RV Park for Sister Swarm IV, a long weekend of fun, dress-up, tons of pollen, and The County Living Fair. Our host, Donna Seelbach, is a beekeeper, and she designed and provided a sweeter-than-honey bee-theme for the event.

I registered for the Advanced Novel class at Sarah Lawrence this spring. I had a solid first draft of The Forge of the Heart completed when I got my Master's at City College, but never did anything else with the manuscript after that.

Yesterday, the first warm day of spring, I had the brilliant idea to go take a walk in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens with Margaret and Alyssa. Next Sunday is Sakura Matsuri, The Cherry Blossom Festival, and the garden will be massively crowded with families, cosplay folks, and photographers, both professional and selfies alike. All the people who show up to free events around town that I avoid because I don't do crowds.

I love camping. You may have noticed this if you've been reading my blog. And even though I've sold my motorhome (The Beast), I still want to go camping. Fortunately, I belong to an organization of like-minded women called Sisters on the Fly, and there are many different trips that the group organizes each year.